Arrah
now, Bryan dear, don't lose yersilf; you that's crossed the salt saes,
an' followed the Red Injins to the prairie, and hunted in the Rocky
Mountains, and found yer way to Ungava--not to mintion havin' comed
oraginally from ould Ireland--which ov itsilf secures ye agin mistakes
of every kind whatsumdiver. Lose yersilf! Musha, but ye had better git
some wan to look after ye, Bryan boy. Take care now; go softly and kape
yer eyes open, for fear ye lose yersilf!"

As Bryan mumbled forth this bantering soliloquy, he lifted up a large
bag which contained a couple of fishing-lines and a few hooks, and
throwing it across the stock of his gun, and both across his shoulder,
he took his way down the rugged but well-beaten deer-path which led to
the ravine or glen. The idea of losing himself seemed to have taken
such a hold of Bryan's mind, and afforded him so much amusement and such
scope for the continued flow of bantering soliloquy to which he was in
truth much addicted, that he failed to note the fact that he was walking
along the edge of a steep declivity, at the foot of which lay a small,
dark sheet of water, which was connected by a short river or strait with
a larger lake, whose wavelets rippled at the base of the mountain
beyond. The scene was magnificently wild and lonely, and would have
riveted the attention and excited the admiration of any one less absent
than Bryan. High, rugged, and to all appearance inaccessible mountains
surrounded the vale on all sides; and although there were several
outlets from it, these were so concealed by the peculiar formation of
the wild mountains that they could not be seen until they were actually
entered.

Had Bryan's eyes been more active, he would have seen that the fringe of
bushes by the side of the deer-track, along which he walked, concealed a
declivity so steep that it almost merited the name of a precipice. But
Bryan was lost in philosophic contemplation, and the first thing that
awakened him to the fact was the slipping of a stone, which caused him
to trip and fall headlong over the bank! The Irishman grasped
convulsively at the bushes to arrest his fall, but the impetus with
which he had commenced the descent tore them from his grasp, and after
one or two unpleasant bounds and a good deal of crashing through shrubs
that tore his garments sadly, he found himself stretched at full length
on the margin of the river that connected the two lakes. So nearly had
he b